"What the Gonzales case demonstrates is that there does seem to be a shift happening in society," Ms Mercorella said.

"Even in relation to rental properties, it's becoming a more significant issue where tenants discover someone has died in the home and they want to be released from the tenancy agreement."

In 2012 in South Australia, the Snowtown bank — the building at the centre of the infamous 'bodies in the barrels' case — was sold to a couple who were aware of its past.

The property listing on one prominent real estate website encouraged potential buyers to "purchase a piece of Australian history", noting that the building was used as the setting for the movie Snowtown.

I warned that "illegal activities were conducted in the old bank building" and advised potential buyers to ask about "the nature of these activities prior to bidding".

However, it did not indicate that it was where eight bodies had been discovered in 1999.

"Real estate agents have both a common law and a legislative obligation to act in the best interests of their client, and that extends to getting your client the best price possible," Ms Mercorella said.

But agents also have a responsibility to reveal certain facts to purchasers, even though laws tend to be couched in general terms. What buyers get told is often a matter of interpretation.

In New South Wales, for example, it is illegal for a real estate agent to conceal a "material fact" about a property.

"Our view is that the disclosure needs to occur before a person enters into a legally binding contract," Ms Mercorella said.

"We're not saying you need to be declaring it to the world at large, but certainly before a person commits to buying."

However, Queensland University of Technology property law expert Sharon Christensen said mandatory disclosure about murder in a property could create more legal problems than it solved.

"When you put together legislation, you've got to be able to clearly define the subject matter of what you're talking about," Professor Christensen said.

"If you introduce something like this, where do you stop in terms of what you have to disclose?

"The risk that you have is that, eventually, if you have to disclose even minor types of crime, you're going to start impacting the value of property."

Professor Christensen said one way to protect yourself was to ask "a lot of questions of the agent and their legal adviser before buying", because agents have a legal duty to answer inquiries truthfully.

What if it's haunted?

Some academic papers refer to haunted houses as an example of stigmatised property. For many, it is a frivolous topic.

Professor Christensen said reported ghost cases were very rare, but typically occurred in the United States.

"That takes it to an extreme of what you would say is a stigmatised property which, at the end of the day, is really a subjective question," she said.